Today I have convention coverage to share! My report on manga industry panels at the New York Anime Festival has gone up, this year over at Johanna Draper Carlson’s Comics Worth Reading. As I mention in my report, publisher panels are my primary focus at anime conventions and though they seem to be happening less and less frequently at all the conventions I regularly attend, there was plenty to get excited about this year at NYAF, especially from Vertical, whose newly acquired licenses I rave on rather tirelessly about over in my report. With so many bloggers on the task, none of the new license information will be news to anyone at this point, so my coverage is intended as one blogger’s take on the licenses themselves, including some commentary on my experience in each of the various panels.

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I’m finally home from NYAF! I had a very nice time, both visiting with old friends and at the con. Everyone else has already reported on the manga industry news and so on, so I’ll just talk about my personal experiences.

Many thanks to dear friends, Laura, Gavin, & James for making time to catch up with me at early hours of the morning, and to my dearest EA, little (or not so little!) Moo, and Malcolm, for putting up with me all weekend. I was also lucky enough to meet a couple of people I’ve become acquainted with through this blog. Here is my report (in order of appearance):

Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane: Friendly, fun, professional. I was very happy to spend time with her at a number of panels over the weekend!

Ed Sizemore: Kind, generous, BEST SHOES EVER. I wish I’d had the opportunity to chat with him more!

Overall, I really enjoyed this con. It was smallish, and with the exception of Saturday, felt actually kind of intimate, which is maybe not profitable if you’re running a con, I don’t know, but certainly enjoyable as an attendee.

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Heading out shortly to the train station for travel to NYAF! I’ll be staying with a dear friend in Brooklyn, and have plans to inundate her and her daughter with anime while I am there, specifically Princess Tutu, Mushishi, and/or Kino’s Journey. I’m also trying to work on getting her daughter interested in manga (she doesn’t read a lot, but I thought maybe comics would help her enjoy it more). I guess we’ll see how it goes. I’m not exactly sure what to try to start her off with. She’s ten, but has spent a lot of her life hanging out with adults, so she’s definitely not typical ten. She’s the kind of girl who would (and did) dress up for Halloween as “Dorth Vader,” a cross between Dorothy (from The Wizard of Oz) and Darth Vader. If you have suggestions, bring ‘em on!

I’ll be at the con all three days, from opening to whenever I get too tired, so if you see me wandering around, please say hello! Just got my hair cut. Look approximately like this.

Just a quick note on xxxHolic chapter 166 before I go.
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Another scattered, incoherent post coming up here. I suppose it reflects my state of mind this week.

Random: Good news for CLAMP fans, I read here earlier that William Flanagan, who translates xxxHolic and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle for Del Rey is in negotiations to translate Mangettes for Dark Horse. You know what a big fan of his xxxHolic translations I am (he also translates Mushishi, which I love as well), so I was pleased to hear he may be working on more CLAMP!

In unrelated news, I just want to point gleefully at another Banana Fish convert! :D

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If you were thinking of going to NYAF, there is a contest:

Want to get into the 2008 New York Anime Festival for free without having to sneak in or bribe someone? Fancy yourself an artist like Yoshitaka Amano? Then this contest is for you! To enter the contest, submit one (1) anime-style portrait or rendering of yourself and one (1) unaltered photograph for comparison to said portrait to info@suvudu.com between 12:01 AM EDT September 10, 2008 and midnight on September 18, 2008.

There will be four (4) First Prize Winners. Each First Prize Winner will receive two (2) weekend passes to the New York Anime Festival and three Random House manga books. Judging the submissions will be Ali Kokeman and Tricia Narwani from Del Rey Manga!

Just passing it on! Thanks to Brigid Alverson for the info! I will be at NYAF (most likely fighting Ed Sizemore for xxxHolic merch :D) so perhaps we’ll run into each other!